The Marian University Ancilla baseball season officially got underway this past weekend with a 4-game series at Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg, Illinois. Last season they began the same way and started 0-4 with a 42-10 run differential. This year, however, the Chargers won their first game, and showed marked improvement throughout the weekend against the NJCAA Division-I Falcon program. Below is a quick synopsis of Saturday's action in Harrisburg.
Game-1 (W 8-5): Saturday midday, Freshman Jacob Hobbs (1-0) got the first win of the season, pitching 5 innings, allowing 3 runs, and striking out 3. Sophomore Nolan Green (S, 1) picked up his first save of the season, pitching the 7th inning and retiring all three batters he faced, including one by strikeout. Sophomore James Riddle drove in Freshman Blaze Schultz for the team's first run of the game in the top of the 2nd, evening the score, 1-1. Trailing 3-1 in the 4th, Sophomore Kennon Kemp smacked a triple to centerfield, scoring both Schultz and Riddle to tie the game once again, 3-3. The very next inning, Sophomore Rudy Ramos singled to right, scoring Sophomore Matteo Lindia, with Freshman Diego Pettiford then scoring on the throw to second base. The Chargers finished their scoring in the 6th, when Sophomore Conner Boone hit an infield single to third base, scoring Kemp, making it 6-3. Schultz later came to the plate and hit a hard grounder into centerfield, scoring both Sophomore Lincoln Parrish and Conner Boone, and it was 8-3 Chargers. Southeastern Illinois picked up two more runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, but the Chargers won, 8-5. Key stats...MUAC walked 9 times and stole 4 bases in the game.
Game-2 (L 10-0, 5 innings): In the second half of Saturday's double-header, the Chargers couldn't find much offense (2 total hits) and had some trouble in the field (5 errors), leading to a quick 5-inning contest against the Falcons. Freshman Aiden Diaz and Sophomore Hunter Smith did pick up their first hits of the season, however, and despite giving up 2 runs (both unearned), Freshman Traevyn Shoaf struck out two batters in just one inning of relief work. Sophomore Nathan Marshman (0-1) earned the decision for the Chargers.
The Marian University Ancilla baseball team is back in action this weekend with four more games at Vincennes University. They play Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET against Frontier Community College, Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET against the host Trailblazers, then twice Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Please come out and support the Chargers!!
